Weedeater – Jason… The Dragon

By Gruesome Greg

As an owner of Weedeater‘s entire discography (three albums and counting), I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from their latest release. With Jason… The Dragon, they neither surprise nor disappoint.

Taking cues from Eyehategod and the NOLA scene, Weedeater delivers their own take on southern sludge metal, accented by the whiskey-soaked vocals of madman “Dixie” Dave Collins. A couple tracks stand out for being off-the-map, but I don’t hear any anthems on this one.

“Palms of Opium” is a bit of a sidebar, with its mellow, folksy surf-blues stylings, and Dixie Dave’s signature vocals sounding a tad outta place. “Whiskey Creek” ends the album with banjo and running water giving way to piano after a brief pause. Otherwise, it’s a solid 28 minutes of southern sludge metal.

A little on the short side, and lacking in any memorable tunes, Jason… The Dragon is only somewhat satisfying. That being said, I won’t object to another Weedeater tour, provided that it stops somewhere close by.